To the Editor:

In a memorable event on June 29, Dorothea’s House hosted the charming Princess Elettra Marconi Giovanelli, the daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, the “Father of Radio” and developer of wireless communication. For my husband Dudley and I, it was a welcome personal opportunity to renew an acquaintance with the Princess whom we knew from our time working as diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Rome.

During her animated talk to a standing-room-only audience, the Princess described a life that has had an almost fairy-tale quality. She was baptized by future Pope Pius XII, her godmother was the Queen of Italy, and she has known two saints (Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II). When she met the Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong told her that if it weren’t for her father, man would have never gone to the moon. The princess said she shared her father’s love of music, art, nature, and passion for the sea. She added that she was told as a child by her famous father to try and try again, a positive message she shared with her audience.

Princess Elettra is the co-author with her late mother, Countess Maria Christina Marconi, of Marconi, My Beloved, which contains eyewitness accounts of her father’s work, including his development of Vatican Radio and scientific experiments on board his floating laboratory, the yacht Elettra. Through the sale of her book, the princess hopes to raise funds for the restoration of her father’s home in Bologna, a magnificent Renaissance palace, located in the heart of the city. The princess would like to make the palace available to American college students who are passionate for science and technology and inspire them to use their talents to improve the world for mankind — just like Guglielmo Marconi. She concluded that her father found talking to young people very stimulating, and when the palace is restored to its glory and filled with students, he would be as enthusiastic as she about its new life. The palace restoration would also be a fitting culmination to her life’s work of perpetuating the memory of her father’s seminal contributions.

Linda Sipprelle

Nassau Street